


It's just a shadow

by Syugi



Category: Original Work
Genre: #shadow people, #sleep paralysis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 21:14:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12240705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Syugi/pseuds/Syugi
Summary: Sleep paralysis really is terrifying.





	It's just a shadow

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the Horrortober challenge, day 1: It's just a shadow. English isn't my first language, so feel free to tell me any mistakes you'll find! :3

He had suffered from sleep paralysis from some months now, but that doesn't mean he was getting used to it.  
Weird how some people thought it was cool to be unable to move and scream while your brain was portraying hellish scenes in front of you. They were probably really stupid or masochist.  
But, in his case, it wasn't simply the disorder itself that was making him scared of the night.  
It was the shadow.  
Just a shadow. Humanoid and enough tall to guess it could belong to an adult person, but still it was just this dark silhoutte without any features. It had no face, no clothes, no voice. It used to stay besides his bed, sometimes it sat on a side, but he was, oh, so sure that the thing was always looking at him.  
Then he noticed that it was also getting closer night after night. It had passed over the legs, had used his stomach as a seat and was close to his chest lately.  
What would have happened when it could reach his face?  
"It's just a shadow" he kept telling to himself, "only an illusion and it can't harm me".  
But a part of the same brain which was doing this had to differ. What if he was going to die like that, alone in his room, without even the possibility to fight against it?  
That night seemed to be finally the last. After hours spent trying to keep his eyes shut, he lost the control over his body. The shadow was here, awfully close to him, its hand ghosting over his face. He tried to yell but of course he made no sound. Cold sweat ran down his forehead while his heart so beating so fast he thought he was going to die from heart attack.  
"It's just a shadow, it's just a shadow, it's just a shadow, it's just a..."  
Then, the scream that he couldn't let out exploded at its full power, as the lights switched on and his mother entered in the room, the creature was gone and so the force that had trapped him inside his own body.  
"Oh my god! Are you okay? Where did that thing go?!"  
The boy hold still for a bit, his tired mind processing the event. He wasn't dreaming anymore, was he?  
"How can you-- I- I don't know, that's the shadow I see when I have sleep paralysis"  
She stared at him in confusion. She did know about his night problem, brought him to a doctor and did what she could to make him feel less stressed, the other never told her all the details tho.  
"I am awake" she stated, more to herself than to his son.  
They kept looking at each other in silence. None of them was going to sleep that night.  
After that night, he stopped having sleep paralysis. His life, just like his sleep, was nice.  
Although, sometimes he could swear to still sense someones gaze on him and, if he turned his head quickly enough, he would see for a moment a shadowy figure with the corner of his eye.


End file.
